Mark Philp

Joanna Innes

America, France, Britain, Ireland 1750-1850

Re-Imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions

An important re-evaluation of radicalism, loyalism and republicanism in British political thought during the French Revolution.

Politics and Language in the Shadow of the French Revolution, 1789–1815

Reforming Ideas in Britain

Eduardo Posada-Carbo

"This book explores the ways in which people in Latin America and the Caribbean joined with others in Europe and the United States to re-imagine the ancient term "democracy", so as to give it relevance and power in the modern world. In all these regions, that process largely followed the French Revolution; in Latin America it more especially followed independence movements of the 1810s and 20s. The book looks at how a variety of political actors and commentators used the term to characterize or argue about modern conditions through the ensuing half-century; by 1870, it was firmly established in mainstream political lexicons throughout the region. Following introductory scene-setting and overview chapters, specialists contribute wide-ranging accounts of aspects of the context in which the word was "re-imagined"; six final chapters explore differences in its fortune from place to place"--

Re-Imagining Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1780-1870

The long war with Revolutionary France had a fundamental impact on British political culture. The most dramatic example of this is the mass mobilisation of the British people in response to French invasion threats throughout the last years of the century but, most spectacularly, in the period 1803-5, after the collapse of the Peace of Amiens, and the massing of an invasion fleet by Napoleon. The preparations for the threatened invasion had many dimensions including military and naval mobilization, the development of defensive earthworks and fortifications on the British Coast, the surveillance and monitoring of radicals identified with the French cause, the incitement of loyalist sentiment through caricature, newspapers, tracts and broadsides, and loyalist songs, and the construction of Napoleon as the prime enemy of British interests. Although aspects of these issues have been studied, this book is the first time that they have been brought together systematically. By bringing together historians of Britain and France to examine the dynamics of the military conflict between the two nations in this period, this book measures its impact on their domestic political cultures, and its effect on their perceptions of each other. In so doing it will encourage scholars to further examine aspects of popular mobilisation which have hitherto been largely ignored, such as the resurgence of loyalism in 1803, and to see their contributions in the light of the dual contexts of domestic political conflict and their war with each other. By allowing scholars to focus their attention on this period of heightened tension, the book contributes both new detail to our understanding of the period and a better overall understanding of the complex place which each nation came to occupy in the consciousness of the other.

The British Response to the Threat of Invasion, 1797–1815

Resisting Napoleon

Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions charts a transformation in the way people thought about democracy in the North Atlantic region in the years between the American Revolution and the revolutions of 1848. In the mid-eighteenth century, 'democracy' was a word known only to the literate. It was associated primarily with the ancient world and had negative connotations: democracies were conceived to be unstable, warlike, and prone to mutate into despotisms. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the word had passed into general use, although it was still not necessarily an approving term. In fact, there was much debate about whether democracy could achieve robust institutional form in advanced societies. In this volume, a cast of internationally-renowned contributors shows how common trends developed throughout the United States, France, Britain, and Ireland, particularly focussing on the era of the American, French, and subsequent European revolutions. Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions argues that 'modern democracy' was not invented in one place and then diffused elsewhere, but instead was the subject of parallel re-imaginings, as ancient ideas and examples were selectively invoked and reworked for modern use. The contributions significantly enhance our understanding of the diversity and complexity of our democratic inheritance.

Re-imagining Democracy in the Age of Revolutions

Mediterranean states are often thought to have 'democratised' only in the post-war era, as authoritarian regimes were successively overthrown. On its eastern and southern shores, the process is still contested. Re-imagining Democracy looks back to an earlier era, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and argues it was this era when some modern version of 'democracy' in the region first began. By the 1860s, representative regimes had been established throughout southern Europe, and representation was also the subject of experiment and debate in Ottoman territories. Talk of democracy, its merits and limitations, accompanied much of this experimentation - though there was no agreement as to whether or how it could be given stable political form. Re-imagining Democracy assembles experts in the history of the Mediterranean, who have been exploring these themes collaboratively, to compare and contrast experiences in this region, so that they can be set alongside better-known debates and experiments in North Atlantic states. States in the region all experienced some form of subordination to northern 'great powers'. In this context, their inhabitants had to grapple with broader changes in ideas about state and society while struggling to achieve and maintain meaningful self-rule at the level of the polity, and self-respect at the level of culture. Innes and Philip highlight new research and ideas about a region whose experiences during the 'age of revolutions' are at best patchily known and understood, as well as to expand understanding of the complex and variegated history of democracy as an idea and set of practices.

Re-Imagining Democracy in the Mediterranean, 1780-1860

Philp explores how political processes and practices shape political values like liberty, justice, equality, and democracy. Mining the history of political episodes and political thinkers, including Caesar and Machiavelli, Philp argues that through political activity “values are articulated and embraced, and they become powerful motivating forces.”

Political Conduct

An innovative new reading of the character of, and tensions in, London's radical intellectual culture at the time of the French Revolution.

Radical Conduct

Maurice Hindle

Pamela Clemit

A collection in eight volumes of the novels and memoirs of William Godwin, one of the foremost philosophers and radical thinkers of his age. There is a general introduction covering Godwin's life and literary works and each volume is prefaced by a scholarly introduction.

The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin

Georgios Varouxakis

Happiness and Utility brings together experts on utilitarianism to explore the concept of happiness within the utilitarian tradition, situating it in earlier eighteenth-century thinkers and working through some of its developments at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Drawing on a range of philosophical and historical approaches to the study of the central idea of utilitarianism, the chapters provide a rich set of insights into a founding component of ethics and modern political and economic thought, as well as political and economic practice. In doing so, the chapters examine the multiple dimensions of utilitarianism and the contested interpretations of this standard for judgement in morality and public policy.

Essays Presented to Frederick Rosen

Happiness and Utility

The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin Vol 4

Martin Fitzpatrick

William St.Clair

Contains all the major political, philosophical and educational writings of William Godwin, one of the foremost philosophers of his age. His work on government and individual freedom, "Political Justice", made him the chief exponent of English radicalism in the latter half of the 18th century.

The Political and Philosophical Writings of William Godwin vol 3

Alexandra Franklin

Katrina Navickas

Twice in five years, the threat of a Napoleonic invasion caused real fear in Britain. In 1798, the country was racked by internal divisions, a fiscal crisis, and widespread social unrest--factors that the French invaders hoped would transform an act of aggression into a welcome war of liberation. The invasion never materialized, but in 1803, the renewal of the invasion threat led to an unprecedented mobilization of the British population and an outpouring of patriotic literature and images. Through a rich collection of satirical cartoons, medals, pamphlets, and broadsides, this book shows the transformation of British politics during the wars against Revolutionary France.

Napoleon and the Invasion of Britain

Katherine Astbury

This book examines the politics of legitimacy as they played out across Europe in response to Napoleon’s dramatic return to power in France after his exile to Elba in 1814. Napoleon had to re-establish his claim to power with initially minimal military resources. Moreover, as the rest of Europe united against him, he had to marshal popular support for his new regime, while simultaneously demanding men and money to back what became an increasingly inevitable military campaign. The initial return – known as ‘the flight of the eagle’ – gradually turned into a dogged attempt to bolster support using a range of mechanisms, including constitutional amendments, elections, and public ceremonies. At the same time, his opponents had to marshal their resources to challenge his return, relying on populations already war-weary and resentful of the costs they had had to bear. The contributors to this volume explore how, for both sides, cultural politics became central in supporting or challenging the legitimacy of these political orders in the path to Waterloo.

Mark Philp

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